Minister Of Health Admits COVID-19 Vaccination Is Slow Due To Limited Vaccine Supplies

ILLUSTRATION / BETWEEN

JAKARTA - Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the slow rate of vaccination against COVID-19 was due to the limited availability of vaccines in the country.

"The rate of injection of the problem is not on the spot, but the availability of the vaccines", Budi said in a joint meeting with the House of Representatives Commission IX, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, March 15.

The Minister of Health revealed that currently, Indonesia has been able to carry out around 300 thousand injections of the COVID-19 vaccine in one day.

In the future, the Minister of Health targets the vaccination rate to be even more massive and reach a peak in July-December 2021 with a target of 1 million to 1.5 million injections per day.

"The weight is in July-December because 75% of our vaccines have just arrived during those months, so we need to increase our vaccination capacity", explained Budi.

Based on the target set by the Ministry of Health (Kemkes), he continued, the vaccine supply in July-December will reach 250 million doses. Thus, within 6 months the vaccination rate could reach 1 million to 1.5 million people per day.

According to the Minister of Health, in January-February 2021, the supply of vaccines is only 10 million doses. This condition affects the vaccination rate, which can only reach 10.000-100.000 injections per day during the initial two months.

Furthermore, in March-April 2021, the Minister of Health said that the number of vaccines available was 15 million per month or 30 million for two months. The target rate for vaccination for March-April was increased to 100.000-500.000 per day.

"(Speed) of injection, we now set it up to 300.000 according to the plan where in April, we can vaccinate 500.000 per day", said Budi.

Currently, there are only 10 million doses of the vaccine available in January-February, it is impossible for it to inject up to 1 million vaccines per day.

"But we inject 10.000-100.000 per day so that there are no days without injection", he said.

He said the vaccine supply in May-June could reach a total of 50 million doses or 25 million doses per month. The vaccination rate in May-June, he said, could also be increased to 500.000 to 1 million per day.

To make the vaccination program successful, the Minister of Health admits that he also embraces the movement with all components of society, both private, religious, and others.

"In order to help us do the injections", said Budi.